Sion's president has claimed his side will still travel to Madrid for Thursday night's Europa League tie against Atlético despite losing their appeal against their expulsion from the competition.

The Swiss side were thrown out of the competition on 2 September after being found guilty of fielding ineligible players, meaning Celtic were handed their place in the group stages despite losing the play-offs 3-1 on aggregate.

A Swiss regional court on Tuesday backed Sion's fight to be reinstated in the tournament but that opinion failed to sway Uefa's appeals panel.

"The appeals body heard the parties and decided to reject the appeal lodged by FC Sion, confirming that the Swiss club had fielded ineligible players in both ties," said a statement on uefa.com.

"As a consequence, Celtic FC remain qualified for the Uefa Europa League group stage and will play against Club Atlético de Madrid on Thursday 15 September. An appeal against this decision can be lodged to the court of arbitration for sport within 10 days of receipt of the written grounds for the decisions."

The governing body confirmed it had received the opinion from the regional court. "Uefa received today on this matter a court decision from the tribunal cantonal de Vaud and will issue a statement in this respect at a later stage," the statement added.

Despite the possibility of Sion appealing to CAS, and the claim by the club's president, Christian Constantin, that his side will still travel to Madrid, Celtic look set to face Atlético in Thursday night's opening game.